Gonna try dehydrating cactus (Pic Heavy)

[Oldbattleaxe]

Ok. First I diced up the cactus, and I did it because I always dice it for the babies, but perhaps larger pices would have been ok. I used a chopper my mother gave me, she got if from QVC, but you can probably find something similar at Walmart. I got about 2.5 cups from a small bowl of pads. I dehydrated them on the veggie setting on my dehydrator for about three hours. It reduced down to about a quarter cup. Does anyone know how to rehydrate? I assume I just need to soak them in water? If this works out I'd like to start jarring cactus all summer for winter use. Any advice folks, this is just a jumping off point for me.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Cool.
I've never seen any dehydrated cactus.
I suppose water would rehydrate it. It might be a slimy mess?

 

[counting]

I'm not sure how it would rehydrate, however for the ratio of water I suppose you could try by adding a ratio of 5 parts water to one part cactus(ie. 1 tablespoon of dry cactus to 5 tablespoons of water to equal out 6 tablespoons of rehydrate cactus.) . My math isn't fantastic however I'm thinking that should replace the water that was removed. I'd do it for a few hours, maybe even overnight in the fridge.

Let us know if it's a mess or if it rehydrates well!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

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Ok. First I diced up the cactus, and I did it because I always dice it for the babies, but perhaps larger pices would have been ok. I used a chopper my mother gave me, she got if from QVC, but you can probably find something similar at Walmart. I got about 2.5 cups from a small bowl of pads. I dehydrated them on the veggie setting on my dehydrator for about three hours. It reduced down to about a quarter cup. Does anyone know how to rehydrate? I assume I just need to soak them in water? If this works out I'd like to start jarring cactus all summer for winter use. Any advice folks, this is just a jumping off point for me.

Why do you want to rehydrate it ? Leave it dry like a spice on the torts food .

 

[wellington]

@Will dehydrates and sells it.
Just soak in water to hydrate. Hot water might work better but not sure.
If you do too big of pieces it might not work well or take a really long time. I'd like to know if a whole pad could be done.
I had one of those dehydrators years and years ago. Barely used it. Wish I had it now though.
If you ever decide to do a whole pad, let me know how it went and how long.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Cool.
I've never seen any dehydrated cactus.
I suppose water would rehydrate it. It might be a slimy mess?

Seriously?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

@Will dehydrates and sells it.
Just soak in water to hydrate. Hot water might work better but not sure.
If you do too big of pieces it might not work well or take a really long time. I'd like to know if a whole pad could be done.
I had one of those dehydrators years and years ago. Barely used it. Wish I had it now though.
If you ever decide to do a whole pad, let me know how it went and how long.

As fresh it is about 90% water. Cold water re-hydration takes about 20 minutes. Temps over 112F start to denature valuable protein nutrients. I suggest cold water. even overnight in the frig. Excess water (if any) is used to hydrate grass pellets.

I cut strings of it.

I recently reached out to a botanical physiologist regarding the recurrence of glochids from dried cactus. I considered maybe new ones grew as the cactus dried. NOT.

What happens is the glochids are like shark teeth in a way, in that there are some completely subsurface to the pad skin. So scrubbing and flaming (blow torch) won't act of the subsurface ones. As the cactus dries the skin pulls away from the glochid place, and "bam", they pop out.

Here is a sales and how to post from some time ago. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...chips-lower-cost-better-functionality.149062/

In early posts (not for sale items mind you, just posts) I wrote about how to dry your own in several ways. Cautions on ways to get the most from the processing etc.

Here is the result when you use 'opuntia' as the search term and @Will as the author.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/search/18152347/?q=opuntia&o=relevance&c[node]=26&c[user][0]=27502

and as 'cactus' and @Will
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/search/18152402/?q=cactus&o=relevance&c[user][0]=27502

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Cactus Chips:
A dietary supplement for
herbivorous pets.​

Produced by KapidoloFarms.

Grown and processed in the USA

Feeding directions:
1)Re-wet by submerging in cold
water for about 20 minutes, or
over-night in your refrigerator.
2) Mix in with regular diet items
once or twice a week, at about
5% of total salad offered.

These chips are dried at 110/112 F and
cut lengthwise preserving protein
from heat denaturing and for maintaining
long fiber. Shelf life when stored in cool, dry,
dark place is about 12 months.

Contents: sold by weight listed on front of
package.
Dried Opuntia cactus.
​

This is the label for direction I use. Anyhow, it is a good way to process most any greens, or as Granpa says, crumbled on fresh greens. The Pancake tortoises taught me about dried opuntia by eating it preferentially over fresh.